The Bedtime Story
by clockwork starlight
Summary: Present for Aix. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away... slightly SasuHina.


Present for Aix, because she was accepted in universities~ Plural even! No I don't know how growing up equates a fairytale, but it's my head, so I just go with it.

I don't know why this one is so long. Like... okay, that's an inappropriate metaphor so I will not use it to describe my child friendly story's length. Truly.

I let you figure out the ending. I've written enough. I'm sickly and in pain and so asking what I'm on will do you no good whatsoever.

* * *

_The Bedtime Story_

All the mountains and the valleys and the rivers and the streams

And the lovely places that you've seen in your dreams

I'll give you the heavens, the stars and the sky

Every wooded creature, every bird and butterfly

I've never had a fortune not a penny will you find

You're my only treasure you can leave all the rest behind

-Scalliwag, _Gaelic Storm_

Once upon a time there was a princess, with hair like twilight and skin like clouds and a smile made of sunshine. She had a little sister, whose eyes were like jewels and her little feet flickered like sparks and her laughter lit even the darkest night. The elder was named Hinata, the younger Hanabi and everyone loved them.

The princesses were the source of good luck and peace for the kingdom, for every day when the sun rose, Hinata was waiting in the temple at the top of the east-most mountain, and she played songs of joy and love on a _pipa_ encrusted with jade and inlaid with gold. The strings were _qilin_ hair and the plectrum carved from the scale of a dragon. The sun delighted to hear such beautiful music, and lit the kingdom with warmth and life.

When the sun set, and the moon was calling the stars, Hanabi would be in the temple on the west mountain, dancing with fans of _fenghuang _feathers, the slats made of pearl and tortoise shell. The little girl's dance charmed the moon and the stars, and they would give no light to those sneaking under the cover of darkness.

One day, as Hinata was playing, a crow snatched the plectrum from her hand and flew away to the east. The princess bravely did not cry, but tried to play the _pipa_ with her fingers. She plucked at them until her nails cracked and her fingers bled, but the strings would not sound a single note. The sun did not understand why there was silence, and waited in the sky for the song to finish.

The king commanded everyone in the kingdom to find the crow, and if they could not do that, then to find a plectrum that would appease the sun. While the messengers ran to every house, Hanabi was shaken from bed and sent to the eastern temple with her fans.

Hinata was already striking the strings with plectrums of bone, and wood, and gold, and jade, but the _pipa_ would not play. Hanabi began to dance as she did every night, but the sun only laughed to see the little girl pretending to be a bird.

Hinata knew in her heart that nothing but the dragon scale would do. She and her sister left the temple, even though the sun was still waiting. Already their father had sent his court musicians to play dance tunes and ballads, though they were to the _pipa_ as a chicken to a nightingale.

Hanabi had fallen back to sleep and was being carried in the arms of a servant. She would have been the only one to see Hinata looking to the horizon, had she been awake. Since she wasn't, no one noticed when the elder princess disappeared from the path.

-

The sun hadn't moved from where she had left it waiting. Hinata was determined to get her plectrum back. First though, she knelt beside a stream to rest her poor bound feet and wash away the blood. She was very surprised when a dragon rose up from the waters.

"How dare you sully my home with your blood?" the dragon asked angrily.

"I'm sorry!" cried the princess and removed her hand at once.

The dragon god peered at her, and even though she was a whimpering smudge of royalty, he recognized her.

"You are the princess who plays for the sun?" he asked.

"I am," she dared to reply. "Or I was. I can't play any longer because the plectrum was lost." Her eyes drifted to the sun dawdling overhead. "I will find the crow that took it, though," she said determinedly. "I will get it back."

The dragon looked down at her with approval. "I will help you, because your music does not bring only the sun joy. Wait here."

The princess did as she was bid and in the space of one blink and the next, a white horse was standing on the river bank and the saddle bag had clothes and gold and a skin of water.

"I am the dragon of a very small river," the horse said apologetically, "so this is all I can do for you."

"This is more than enough!" protested the princess, kowtowing profusely.

"You are keeping the sun waiting," the horse admonished. "Now hurry, which way did the crow fly?"

The dragon stopped at a village closest to the eastern border where Hinata learned no one had found the plectrum. She wavered over continuing until she saw the delicate flowers by the roadside were already looking slightly wilted because the sun had been in the sky for so long. Her resolve hardened, and she asked the villagers if they had food and blankets to spare. As much as she put into the saddlebag, it was never completely full. The villagers would not take the gold, and she would have insisted, had not the horse pawed the ground impatiently. Instead she took her own jade amulet, a sign of her personal favor, and told them to bring it to the king with her story. Her father would see to it the village was rewarded.

-

They rode until Hinata was hungry and tired, though she never said anything. They rested by a river, and the horse went to pay his respects to the dragon in it.

While he was gone, Hinata noticed a lark's nest being threatened by a snake.

"Wait!" she implored the snake, reaching into the saddlebag and immediately finding what she sought. "Please eat these instead." In her hand was the box of eggs the village grandmother had pressed upon her.

The snake looked at the princess suspiciously, but allowed herself to be persuaded it was not a trap when Hinata broke one on a rock.

"I can have all of them?" she hissed.

Hinata nodded vigorously. "I don't want them. They say if a girl drinks one egg every day, her hair will become beautiful, maybe beautiful enough to ensnare even a _qilin_. But that's not what I seek."

The snake coiled protectively around the box. "What are you looking for then?"

"The crow that took my treasure. Without it, I can't play for the sun."

"All the crows are going east," the snake said. "They are presenting tributes to their king."

Hinata's heart leapt. "Do you know where the king is?"

"I'm not a crow," the snake spat. "Only those featherbrains know or care where they convene."

"I know I'm going the right direction," Hinata told herself. "Thank you very much for your help," she said to the reptile.

She had just brushed off the last crumbs of her own meal when the horse returned. She told him what she had learned, and asked if anyone besides the crows would know where the king was.

"If there is, we will find him," said the dragon. "Now come."

"I will go too," the snake announced. "It will be easier to protect these if I am with you."

The horse snorted but waited while Hinata packed up the eggs and wound the snake comfortably around her wrist.

-

They rode until the mountains of her home were mere memories on the horizon. The next time they stopped, Hinata saw two boys throwing rocks at a crow. As much as she disliked them at the moment, she couldn't bear to see even a crow being tormented so. She called out and told the boys she would give them something good if they could lead her to their village. The crow escaped into the underbrush the second the boys looked up. Hinata hoped it would be alright.

The princess woke when the hour of the tiger began, as she had every day. But she could not make her way to the eastern temple from here. She slipped out of the boys' house and back into the forest with her bag, hoping she could find something that knew where the crow king was.

Instead, she had only taken a few steps when she found a man, badly beaten and barely conscious, but still devastatingly handsome. She knelt beside him, tearing the silk from her under robe to clean his wounds. He shuddered when she poured water on him, but did not rouse. When she propped him up against a tree, patting his face so he would wake up and drink something, he managed to open his eyes and ask her what she thought she was doing.

"I-I… water?" she offered meekly.

"Princess is too kind," the snake declared sibilantly, having woken while Hinata was searching the bag for something a man could wear. "Why bother with one when your entire country is dying slowly of drought?"

"I can't just leave him," Hinata protested.

"You will have to," spoke the horse, appearing like a ghost. "You have done more than any one else would, and now you must follow that crow. Let us go."

Hinata bit her lip, but rose. She reached up and pulled the phoenix ornament from her hair.

"Take this, and may your fortunes improve with it." She pressed it into his unresisting hand and took off.

Sasuke stared after the girl in blank confusion. He winced when he inadvertently moved and bark bit at the bruises on his back. Stupid human children. He'd been all set to curse the village those two brats lived in, but somehow the thought of the girl who'd helped him twice prevented him. He sighed and forced himself to stand. He was going to be late. He certainly wouldn't be able to fly like this.

"My lord!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, but took it as an excuse to stop walking.

The little lark twittered anxiously. "My lord, have you seen a woman with lips like berries and hair like the evening breeze, who rides a dragon and wears a snake?"

"What could _you_ want with such an oddity?" he asked impatiently.

"She saved my children when I could not, and I would have gone with her that very moment, but I had to wait for my husband to return and watch the nest."

"And how do you know she went this way?"

"She said she was seeking the crow that took her treasure. And all crows are going east, to celebrate the king's birthday." The lark fluttered, fretting that she was so much slower than a dragon.

Sasuke decided. "She was just here." He pulled a hair from his head and held it out to the bird. It turned into an inky black feather in her beak. "Give her that when you find her and show her the way to the red mulberry tree."

The lark bowed and shot off like an arrow.

Hinata was exhausted, and despaired of ever finding the crow. She and the snake ate by the shore of a lake, while the dragon rested. It was there the lark found them, and very gratefully alighted on the princess' shoulder.

She dropped the feather into Hinata's lap. "I'm so glad," the lark chirped. "As thanks for saving my children," she eyed the snake with distaste, "I will show you the way to the red mulberry tree. It would be impossible, but you ride a dragon. But _finding_ the crow king is not the hardest task before you."

"It may not be the hardest, but it is the first thing she must do." The dragon shook himself. "I am refreshed enough; tell me where this red mulberry tree is."

-

The mulberry tree was nearly as tall as the eastern mountain, Hinata thought. And rather than green or red, the tree was black from top to bottom with crows. They looked like they might attack her, but the lark hidden in her hair whispered that they would not because she wore the feather. The crows parted into pathways that she walked with every ounce of her royal bearing, even though she was tired and afraid.

The king of the crows was seated in a garden much grander than her father's. He eyed the feather tucked in her sash and only asked one question.

"Why have you come?"

"I… I am the princess of a kingdom far to the west, and I have come here to regain my plectrum." She hoped it was not painfully obvious how she trembled. The snake, hidden by her sleeve, tightened around her arm comfortingly.

"Only for a plectrum?"

"For my kingdom!" Hinata countered, finding strength in the thought of her home, of the laughing sun, of her sister, of her people. "I must have it, or my country will wither like a lotus in the desert."

"It has been stolen. Why would a thief return the fruits of his labor?"

"I will do anything if only I can return to my home with the plectrum."

"I suppose, since you have come this far, you mean it. Very well, your task." He removed a ring from his hand and held it out to her. "You will take this, and deliver it safely to my mother, who lives atop that mountain." He gestured to a blur in the distance. "You may ride to the base, but no farther." He smiled a little, and Hinata fought not to cower. "My mother does not like dragons."

She took the ring and bowed low.

The dragon wasted no time, once she was set in the saddle he ran so fast the wind could not catch them.

"But your majesty," began one of the crows. "She has the prince's blessing…"

Itachi scoffed. "As if I would respect the wishes of a foolish little brother that can not even come on time. At least I did not ask her to go to the Dragon King's Palace and retrieve the fan I left there."

-

When they reached the foot of the mountain, the dragon promised he would be waiting. Hinata, the lark and the snake set off into the forest.

They walked until they could not see the mountain because of the forest, so the lark flew above the trees, but quickly returned and whispered frantically that bandits had surrounded them.

"Give me the ring," said the snake. "I will keep it safe."

Hinata let the snake swallow it and slither away into the tall grass, and just in time, for a woman emerged from the shadows, sword drawn.

"Your life _or_ your valuables, or your life _and_ your valuables, lady," she said with a smirk.

Hinata pushed the bag at her with her foot, hands freeing her hair of the golden hairpins and relieving her arms of the jade bangles.

"This is all you have?" The bandit grabbed the princess by the chin and looked into her face with piercing red eyes.

"I own nothing more," Hinata pled. The woman took in the robes that had once been beautiful and bright with embroidery, now dull and dirty; the feet encased in tiny, ragged silken slippers and allowed this was probably true.

"What are you doing here, alone and with such riches?"

"I am going to the top of the mountain; I am the only one who can."

"You have little fear left in you," the brigand woman said, not unkindly. "You may keep your life and your honor, if nothing else." She whistled for her followers, and then melted into the night.

Hinata's knees gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. The snake and the lark returned and reminded her they still had a task to complete. The snake gave her the ring, which she wiped carefully and tucked into her sleeve.

-

At the top of the mountain, Hinata found a small temple, and a priestess sweeping the steps.

"Have you come to pay your respects to Ling Guang?" she asked benignly.

"I have a gift for her," Hinata said tentatively.

"Then I am sure she will welcome it." The priestess led her in and together they knelt in before an image of the Vermilion Bird.

Barely had Hinata's fingers left the ring when it disappeared from the altar in a plume of fire.

"You may tell Itachi that I have received his gift, and that I wish him many happy returns."

Hinata whirled, only to see the priestess bow slightly as she vanished. In her place lay a peach, flush and ripe. She tucked it carefully into her sleeve and made her way back down the mountain.

-

"A peach for a plectrum does not seem a fair trade—" The flying needle was caught with two fingers. "That is no way to greet your elder brother," he reprimanded lightly.

"Just take the hairpin and give her what she wants," the prince growled. Hinata gasped in surprise to see the phoenix ornament she had given away in the king's hand.

"You've won over not only my mother but also my brother. How astonishing. Perhaps I should just give you what you seek." He gestured for an attendant, who presented the princess with the dragon scale plectrum. "Sasuke, ensure the both of them get home safely."

"But I just… yes your majesty."

* * *

Sasuke stopped and looked over his shoulder. Hinata was peeking in through the crack in the door, wondering what was taking so long.

"No, they're not asleep yet," he told her blandly.

"We're not tired," chirruped the lump of kitten comforter, confirming its claim with a bounce.

"Uncle Naruto gave us sugar!" the dinosaur quilt revealed, having learned early in its life that anything that could be attributed to Uncle Naruto, should be.

"I see." Sasuke's simple statement promised horrible and painful things for Uncle Naruto.

Hinata slipped into the room to tuck her children in properly. However the girl under the kittens launched herself into her mother's arms and there was no evidence in her energy that it was past her bedtime.

"Bedtime stories are supposed to be restful," she informed her husband, smoothing her daughter's silky black hair. The little movement of her hand conveyed very clearly that 'sitting up and interested', much less 'bouncing and lively' was counterproductive. "Children are supposed to lie down and possibly get bored to sleep."

"I know that. Why else have a story with you as the main character?" Sasuke returned without malice. His son nodded sagely at his reasoning, causing Sasuke to give him an encouraging nudge on the forehead. "Get your mother to sing you a lullaby or something. I'm getting a glass of water."

He came back with his glass of water, but his children were demanding the story be finished before they went to bed. Hinata looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and helplessness, so he went to finish his happily ever after.

The End

* * *

As for why the dragon becomes a horse and doesn't just stay a dragon… you don't mess with story. You ask 16th Century China why they didn't care that the monk put up with all sorts of 'gonna eat you' nonsense when he was riding a horse-dragon prince (seriously, the monk is like the Daphne, always getting kidnapped) or why Sun Wukong didn't just somersault all their asses to India and avoid all that trouble in the first place.

I love Journey to the West. Although I think the only thing I borrowed was the dragon-horse bit. Everything else was kind of a mishmash of Chinese mythology and western folktales. Because you can't get any thing done without an animal entourage.


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